Among the many innovations promised by the announcement of Magic 2015 yesterday, one that went slightly under the radar given the much bigger and more obvious news items was the set size. Core sets, and indeed all large sets, are typically 249 cards; Magic 2015 was announced at 269. For a day, this went unexplained, until the Magic rumor community turned to Mark Rosewater's Tumblr blog in search of answers - which, this time, they got. When vyse86 asked Mark, "Why does Magic 2015 have 269 cards instead of the usual 249?" he answered, very directly:

We have changed the default from 60 uncommons to 80 uncommons for large sets as it makes limited play better. The default of large sets moving forward will be 269.

So there you have it - the 20 extra cards are accounted for as uncommons. Slots eleven through thirteen in booster packs are about to get thirty-three percent more diverse! This is exciting news for, well, Limited players, as well as anyone who likes new Magic cards.

As Magic 2015 is a multicolor-free (we think) core set, the extra uncommons should be distributed four to a color, but that, naturally, will not necessarily hold for every large set.

What do you think of the set size change on top of all the others coming with Magic 2015? Let me know in the comments.

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Alex Silady has been playing Magic casually since the age of 13, and has recently taken up the exciting path of the DCI tournament scrub. He has his BA in journalism and politics from NYU and somehow finds the time for Magic while pursuing his MA from Rutgers University. He likes minigame-style cards, alternate win conditions, interesting green creatures, Auras and Equipment, and long walks on the beach.